"Zoo-rific" or "Sweatapoloosa"

I got to meet my super cool and fabulous online homeschool teaching buddy at the zoo last Friday. Here is photographic evidence that she exists! *Please pardon the blown out pic. It was hot and I couldn't be bothered with details of photography. We are both much more attractive and successful looking in person.


This is our posse.

How cute is this?
I don't get to be around babies very much anymore and this one, quite simply, rocked!

Oh, and him?

He's smiling on the inside...

Thanks, Debra, for the adult companionship. My kids are still talking about how much fun they had! Aside from the 248% humidity, I had a lovely time! Let's try it again in November! When it's cooler. And less humidity-y.

"Teaching Porn/ Grammar" or "Why I wish more adults were around during the day"

Loree: Mom, what's a twosome?

Me: It's two somethings. A pair of shoes is a twosome.

Loree: So me and Chelsey are a twosome.

Me: It's Chelsey and me not me and Chelsey. If it sounds like you are calling someone mean, it's incorrect. And yes, Chelsey and you make a twosome.

Loree: What about me, Chelsey and Abby?

Me: It's Chelsey, Abby and me. And, well, that makes a... *cringe* threesome.

pause

Loree: Ok.

Loree goes outside...

A few minutes later

Loree: Mooooom! I want Chelsey to come out with me and Abby and she won't!

Me: She's busy. She'll come out when she's done.

Loree: Guh! Fine. We'll have to have a threesome later.

*cringe*

Gas Giants all around us

Our Astronomy lesson went from bad to worse today due to the fact that we were studying Gas Giants. (We lost Philip and Aaron immediately)

Jupiter is considered a gas giant. It has a small, rocky core, but all around this core are swirling gases. So, Jupiter is a big ol' ball of atmosphere.

Saturn is also a gas giant made mostly from Helium and Hydrogen.

Did you know Uranus was a gas giant, as well? *snicker*

Me: Can you name any other Gas Giants in our solar system?

Aaron: (still giggling)Papa Larry?

Me: (above hysterical laughter) Well, I was looking for Neptune, but...(laughter continues)...nevermind.

A lesser known, but my favorite Gas Giant...Larry.

Dewey! Dewey! Dewey!

It's that time of year again! You know, that time when I go completely nuts and panic because I start to question my teaching skills. That time of year when I wake up in the middle of the night in a pool of sweat asking myself, "Who the heck do you think you are trying to school your own kids?!?" During this time, I freak out calmly reassess (that looks like re-asses to me. hee-hee) my resources and make changes where I feel we could improve. One of those improvements changed this:

...to this:

Partly because of this:

I changed reading programs with Loreta Mae. She loathed the last one with every fiber of her stubborn being. This program has a cute little dude named Dewey(see above) that helps you along through the lessons. He also helps keep your place in the book.

We are also slowing down just a bit in math for these characters:

They were required to do an insane amount of work on a daily basis. Their teacher is a total loon! We're gonna brush up on some basics for a week or two with drill and games and then jump back into our regularly scheduled programming.


Loree's strategy seems to be working well, so she will continue with whatever this process is...

Welp! That's a little update fer ya...Hope all is well with you and yours. I'm gonna go get a CAT scan.

Super Skills

We had a visitor on our last day of school for the year. It's always nice when super heroes stop by to brush up on their math skills. Funny, though...Aaron was nowhere to be found. Come to think of it, you never see them together in the same room. Odd.